How can we be aware of ourselves both as physical objects and as thinking, experiencing subjects? What role does the experience of the body play in generating our sense of self? What is the role of ...
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How can we be aware of ourselves both as physical objects and as thinking, experiencing subjects? What role does the experience of the body play in generating our sense of self? What is the role of action and agency in the construction of the bodily self?
These questions have been a rich subject of interdisciplinary debate among philosophers, neuroscientists, experimental psychologists, and cognitive scientists for several decades. José Luis Bermúdez been a significant contributor to these debates since the 1990’s, when he authored The Paradox of Self-Consciousness (MIT Press, 1998) and co-edited The Body and the Self (MIT Press, 1995) with Anthony Marcel and Naomi Eilan.
The Bodily Self is a selection of essays all focused on different aspects of the role of the body in self-consciousness, prefaced by a substantial introduction outlining common themes across the essays. The essays have been published in a wide range of journals and edited volumes. Putting them together brings out a wide-ranging, thematically consistent perspective on a set of topics and problems that remain firmly of interest across the cognitive and behavioral sciences.Less

The Bodily Self : Selected Essays

José Luis Bermúdez

Published in print: 2018-03-09

How can we be aware of ourselves both as physical objects and as thinking, experiencing subjects? What role does the experience of the body play in generating our sense of self? What is the role of action and agency in the construction of the bodily self?
These questions have been a rich subject of interdisciplinary debate among philosophers, neuroscientists, experimental psychologists, and cognitive scientists for several decades. José Luis Bermúdez been a significant contributor to these debates since the 1990’s, when he authored The Paradox of Self-Consciousness (MIT Press, 1998) and co-edited The Body and the Self (MIT Press, 1995) with Anthony Marcel and Naomi Eilan.
The Bodily Self is a selection of essays all focused on different aspects of the role of the body in self-consciousness, prefaced by a substantial introduction outlining common themes across the essays. The essays have been published in a wide range of journals and edited volumes. Putting them together brings out a wide-ranging, thematically consistent perspective on a set of topics and problems that remain firmly of interest across the cognitive and behavioral sciences.

Taking as point of departure a paradox (the paradox of self-consciousness) that appears to block philosophical elucidation of self-consciousness, this paper illustrates how highly conceptual forms of ...
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Taking as point of departure a paradox (the paradox of self-consciousness) that appears to block philosophical elucidation of self-consciousness, this paper illustrates how highly conceptual forms of self-consciousness emerge from a rich foundation of nonconceptual forms of self-awareness. Attention is paid in particular to the primitive forms of nonconceptual self-consciousness manifested in visual perception, somatic proprioception, spatial reasoning and interpersonal psychological interactions. The study of these primitive forms of self-consciousness is an interdisciplinary enterprise and the paper considers a range of points of contact where philosophical work can illuminate work in the cognitive sciences, and vice versa.Less

Nonconceptual Self-Consciousness and Cognitive Science

José Luis Bermúdez

Published in print: 2018-03-09

Taking as point of departure a paradox (the paradox of self-consciousness) that appears to block philosophical elucidation of self-consciousness, this paper illustrates how highly conceptual forms of self-consciousness emerge from a rich foundation of nonconceptual forms of self-awareness. Attention is paid in particular to the primitive forms of nonconceptual self-consciousness manifested in visual perception, somatic proprioception, spatial reasoning and interpersonal psychological interactions. The study of these primitive forms of self-consciousness is an interdisciplinary enterprise and the paper considers a range of points of contact where philosophical work can illuminate work in the cognitive sciences, and vice versa.

One of the attractions of Gibson’s concept of ecological perception is that it seems to provide a basic awareness of the bodily self that can serve as the core of a comprehensive account of ...
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One of the attractions of Gibson’s concept of ecological perception is that it seems to provide a basic awareness of the bodily self that can serve as the core of a comprehensive account of full-fledged self-consciousness in thought and action. On the ecological understanding of perception, sensitivity to self-specifying information is built into the very structure of perception in such a way that, as Gibson famously put it, all perception involves co-perception of the (bodily) self and the environment. This paper shows how Gibson’s ecological account is not itself sufficient for self-awareness, even of a primitive form, but suggests what needs to be added to it in order to yield the basic awareness of the bodily self that I term possessing a nonconceptual point of view.Less

Ecological Perception and the Notion of a Nonconceptual Point of View

José Luis Bermúdez

Published in print: 2018-03-09

One of the attractions of Gibson’s concept of ecological perception is that it seems to provide a basic awareness of the bodily self that can serve as the core of a comprehensive account of full-fledged self-consciousness in thought and action. On the ecological understanding of perception, sensitivity to self-specifying information is built into the very structure of perception in such a way that, as Gibson famously put it, all perception involves co-perception of the (bodily) self and the environment. This paper shows how Gibson’s ecological account is not itself sufficient for self-awareness, even of a primitive form, but suggests what needs to be added to it in order to yield the basic awareness of the bodily self that I term possessing a nonconceptual point of view.

We can think about the sources of self-consciousness in either a genetic or an epistemic sense. That is, we can think either about the origins of the capacity to think self-conscious thoughts or ...
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We can think about the sources of self-consciousness in either a genetic or an epistemic sense. That is, we can think either about the origins of the capacity to think self-conscious thoughts or about the warrant that we have for our self-conscious judgments. These two sets of questions are independent but related. This paper explores the role that the genetic dimension of self-consciousness plays in understanding the epistemology of self-consciousness. I will take as my foil a recent account of some key features of the epistemic dimension of a particular type of self-conscious judgment – the account offered by Christopher Peacocke in his book Being Known (Peacocke 1999). Working through the example of how the bodily self is represented in visual perception shows how the primitive foundations from which self-consciousness emerges in the course of cognitive development are also the foundation for the epistemic status of full-fledged self-conscious thoughts.Less

The Sources of Self-Consciousness

José Luis Bermúdez

Published in print: 2018-03-09

We can think about the sources of self-consciousness in either a genetic or an epistemic sense. That is, we can think either about the origins of the capacity to think self-conscious thoughts or about the warrant that we have for our self-conscious judgments. These two sets of questions are independent but related. This paper explores the role that the genetic dimension of self-consciousness plays in understanding the epistemology of self-consciousness. I will take as my foil a recent account of some key features of the epistemic dimension of a particular type of self-conscious judgment – the account offered by Christopher Peacocke in his book Being Known (Peacocke 1999). Working through the example of how the bodily self is represented in visual perception shows how the primitive foundations from which self-consciousness emerges in the course of cognitive development are also the foundation for the epistemic status of full-fledged self-conscious thoughts.

We are embodied, and we are aware of our bodies ‘from the inside’ through different forms of bodily awareness. But what is the relation between these two facts? Are these forms of bodily awareness ...
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We are embodied, and we are aware of our bodies ‘from the inside’ through different forms of bodily awareness. But what is the relation between these two facts? Are these forms of bodily awareness types of self-consciousness, on a par, say, with introspection? In this paper I argue that bodily awareness is a basic form of self-consciousness, through which perceiving agents are directly conscious of the bodily self. The first two sections clarify the nature of bodily awareness. Sections III to V I explore how bodily awareness functions as a form of self-consciousness and how this is connected to the property of being immune to error through misidentification relative to the first person pronoun. In section IV I consider, and remain unconvinced by, an argument to the effect that bodily awareness cannot have first person content (and hence cannot count as a form of self-consciousness). Finally, section V sketches out an account of the spatial content of bodily awareness and explores the particular type of awareness of the bodily self that it provides.Less

Bodily Awareness and Self-Consciousness

José Luis Bermúdez

Published in print: 2018-03-09

We are embodied, and we are aware of our bodies ‘from the inside’ through different forms of bodily awareness. But what is the relation between these two facts? Are these forms of bodily awareness types of self-consciousness, on a par, say, with introspection? In this paper I argue that bodily awareness is a basic form of self-consciousness, through which perceiving agents are directly conscious of the bodily self. The first two sections clarify the nature of bodily awareness. Sections III to V I explore how bodily awareness functions as a form of self-consciousness and how this is connected to the property of being immune to error through misidentification relative to the first person pronoun. In section IV I consider, and remain unconvinced by, an argument to the effect that bodily awareness cannot have first person content (and hence cannot count as a form of self-consciousness). Finally, section V sketches out an account of the spatial content of bodily awareness and explores the particular type of awareness of the bodily self that it provides.

This chapter elaborates on the Lockean idea of self-ownership through self-consciousness, arguing for the derivation of the idea of natural rights from the idea of self-ownership, and the derivation ...
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This chapter elaborates on the Lockean idea of self-ownership through self-consciousness, arguing for the derivation of the idea of natural rights from the idea of self-ownership, and the derivation of self-ownership in turn from an analysis of the phenomenon of self-consciousness. The idea of self-ownership, it is argued, constitutes an “ordering fact,” that is, a special type of descriptive proposition that possesses normative implications. The idea of a natural right is defined as a basis for moral claims residing within or deriving from the individual, and three primary objects of natural right are identified and explained: the Lockean triad of life, liberty, and property.Less

Self-Consciousness, Self-Ownership, and Natural Rights

S. Adam Seagrave

Published in print: 2014-05-05

This chapter elaborates on the Lockean idea of self-ownership through self-consciousness, arguing for the derivation of the idea of natural rights from the idea of self-ownership, and the derivation of self-ownership in turn from an analysis of the phenomenon of self-consciousness. The idea of self-ownership, it is argued, constitutes an “ordering fact,” that is, a special type of descriptive proposition that possesses normative implications. The idea of a natural right is defined as a basis for moral claims residing within or deriving from the individual, and three primary objects of natural right are identified and explained: the Lockean triad of life, liberty, and property.

This chapter presents the traditional model of self-consciousness, according to which self-consciousness is a form of object cognition, and explains why this model is misguided. Based on this, it ...
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This chapter presents the traditional model of self-consciousness, according to which self-consciousness is a form of object cognition, and explains why this model is misguided. Based on this, it introduces the notion of prereflective self-consciousness and argues that it needs to be further analyzed. It then examines linguistic approaches to self-consciousness and shows that immunity to error through misidentification is an essential feature of paradigmatic forms of self-consciousness. Finally, it motivates the attempt to provide a theory of self-consciousness that appeals to the notion of nonconceptual content by demonstrating how linguistic approaches remain incomplete.Less

Setting the Stage : The Problem of Self-Consciousness

Kristina Musholt

Published in print: 2015-08-28

This chapter presents the traditional model of self-consciousness, according to which self-consciousness is a form of object cognition, and explains why this model is misguided. Based on this, it introduces the notion of prereflective self-consciousness and argues that it needs to be further analyzed. It then examines linguistic approaches to self-consciousness and shows that immunity to error through misidentification is an essential feature of paradigmatic forms of self-consciousness. Finally, it motivates the attempt to provide a theory of self-consciousness that appeals to the notion of nonconceptual content by demonstrating how linguistic approaches remain incomplete.

Chapter 7 introduces the idea, developed over the following chapters, that the key to a unified framework of dreaming is the investigation of phenomenal selfhood, or the experience of being or having ...
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Chapter 7 introduces the idea, developed over the following chapters, that the key to a unified framework of dreaming is the investigation of phenomenal selfhood, or the experience of being or having a self. Chapter 7 lays the groundwork for describing the relationship between phenomenal selfhood and bodily experience in dreams. A preliminary conclusion is that the phenomenology of embodied selfhood is more variable in dreams than in wakefulness. Importantly, in dreams, phenomenal selfhood can persist even when bodily experience is lost altogether. I introduce different conceptual tools for describing phenomenal embodiment in dreams, ranging from phenomenal indeterminacy and phenomenal disembodiment to strong phenomenal embodiment. Their metatheoretical relevance consists in the fact that the phenomenology of being an embodied self is shown to be unnecessary for the experience of being or having a self.Less

Jennifer M. Windt

Published in print: 2015-07-20

Chapter 7 introduces the idea, developed over the following chapters, that the key to a unified framework of dreaming is the investigation of phenomenal selfhood, or the experience of being or having a self. Chapter 7 lays the groundwork for describing the relationship between phenomenal selfhood and bodily experience in dreams. A preliminary conclusion is that the phenomenology of embodied selfhood is more variable in dreams than in wakefulness. Importantly, in dreams, phenomenal selfhood can persist even when bodily experience is lost altogether. I introduce different conceptual tools for describing phenomenal embodiment in dreams, ranging from phenomenal indeterminacy and phenomenal disembodiment to strong phenomenal embodiment. Their metatheoretical relevance consists in the fact that the phenomenology of being an embodied self is shown to be unnecessary for the experience of being or having a self.

Lachs seeks to clarify the distinctive features of Fichte's version of idealism, giving special emphasis to his view of the self. In discussing Fichte's view that the self posits itself (and posits ...
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Lachs seeks to clarify the distinctive features of Fichte's version of idealism, giving special emphasis to his view of the self. In discussing Fichte's view that the self posits itself (and posits itself as positing), Lachs argues that positing is a nontemporal act whose model is the Aristotelian concept of activity. He ends with a critical appraisal of Fichte's treatment of finite selves.Less

Fichte’s Idealism

Patrick ShadeJohn Lachs

Published in print: 2014-03-03

Lachs seeks to clarify the distinctive features of Fichte's version of idealism, giving special emphasis to his view of the self. In discussing Fichte's view that the self posits itself (and posits itself as positing), Lachs argues that positing is a nontemporal act whose model is the Aristotelian concept of activity. He ends with a critical appraisal of Fichte's treatment of finite selves.

This chapter demonstrates how a certain ‘Marxian’ material moment already inhabits Hegel's very difficult argument in the Phenomenology of Spirit at the crucial point in the dialectic of ‘Self- ...
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This chapter demonstrates how a certain ‘Marxian’ material moment already inhabits Hegel's very difficult argument in the Phenomenology of Spirit at the crucial point in the dialectic of ‘Self- consciousness’ where the text resorts to a phenomenalization of the sign in order to suture the break between ‘life’ and ‘consciousness’. This material moment is what produces a remainder and a residue: among other things, Marx and the Marxian tradition.Less

Hegel/Marx: Consciousness and Life

Andrzej Warminski

Published in print: 2013-06-30

This chapter demonstrates how a certain ‘Marxian’ material moment already inhabits Hegel's very difficult argument in the Phenomenology of Spirit at the crucial point in the dialectic of ‘Self- consciousness’ where the text resorts to a phenomenalization of the sign in order to suture the break between ‘life’ and ‘consciousness’. This material moment is what produces a remainder and a residue: among other things, Marx and the Marxian tradition.